Copycat Portillo’s Chopped Salad – Amazing! August 17, 2012

I love Portillo’s chopped salad.  Portillo’s is a fast food chain in the Chicago area.  If you ever visit Chicago, I highly recommend checking out Portillo’s.  Indulge in a hot dog and fries and go back a second time to try their chopped salad!  I’m pleased to share this copycat recipe with you.  It takes forever to chop up the ingredients, but it’s worth it.  I ended up quartering the recipe and I had enough for 2 HUGE salads.  Save the second salad by placing a paper towel over the salad and covering with plastic wrap.  The paper towel helps absorb the moisture and keeps the salad fresh for the next day.  This tastes just like Portillo’s chopped salad.  Also, I have tried out many salad dressings and the best match I could find was Marzetti’s Sweet Italian dressing.

 

 

RECIPE for COPYCAT PORTILLO’S CHOPPED SALAD

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 head iceberg lettuce
• 1 – 2 heads Romaine lettuce, depending on size
• 1 small head red cabbage, minced or 1 bag sliced red cabbage, chopped
• 1 small red onion, finely minced
• 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
• 3 tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 2  c. ditalini pasta, cooked and cooled
• 1 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 c. gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
• Vinaigrette dressing, bottled or homemade (we used a Honey Mustard Vinaigrette)

 

DIRECTIONS

1. Wash and dry the lettuces. Finely chop until the lettuce is in small pieces. Put in a large bowl.

2. Add remaining ingredients, except dressing, and toss to combine well.

3. Serve dressing along side the salad or pour on and combine just before serving.

 

The original Portillo’s Chopped Salad includes diced chicken breast, but we opted to leave that out to make it more picnic and side-dish friendly. I think I’ll be making this for just our family very soon and including the chicken. It would definitely be hearty enough to make a complete meal.

 

SOURCE:  http://stolenmomentscooking.com/homemade-portillos-chopped-salad/

 

 

Substitutions:  I left out the red onion.  Next time I will add chicken!

Time:  It took me close to an hour to chop everything up and clean up, including distractions from the kiddo’s.

Pinterest Pin:  http://pinterest.com/pin/40391727878988426/

Weight Watchers Points:  I calculated 8 WW+ points.  I used 2 T. dressing.

 

Loaded Baked Potato Dip July 6, 2012

This is my new favorite dip!  It is very quick to put together.  The most time consuming part of this recipe is cooking the bacon.  At first I was thrown off that this dip didn’t have any potato in it at all.  Ah ha… pair it with a potato chip (Ruffles are my fav) and there is your potato!  Just dip and load it up!  If you like onion, bacon, and cheese, you will love this dip!

 

 

 

Recipe: http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2012/01/31/loaded-baked-potato-dip/

Pinterest Pin: http://pinterest.com/pin/40391727878683262/

Substitutions:  I didn’t have 16 slices of bacon, so I used 10.  I used green onion instead of chives.

Time:  15 minutes

 

– Lisa

Baked Corn on the Cob June 24, 2012

I grabbed some sweet corn at the grocery store the other day and decided to bake it!  I’ve always boiled my corn or grilled it, but I’ve never tried baking it!  I was attracted to the idea because it seemed easy, fast, and easy to clean up.  I baked the corn at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.  Be careful when  you peel off the husk because it was hot!  I baked it on a baking sheet, but I will probably toss it right on the rack next time.  I paired the corn on the cob with a grilled pub burger and fruit.  I garnished my corn with butter, salt, and pepper, and it was “oh so oh so good” as my daughter would say.

 

 

Pinterest Pin:  http://pinterest.com/pin/40391727878602124/

Recipe:  http://caithatescake.com/?p=561

Substitutions:  After 30 minutes, my corn was still not done.  I ended up baking it for 40 or 45 minutes!

Time:  There was no prep time except to toss the corn on a baking sheet.  The corn baked for 40 minutes while I prepared the rest of the meal.

– Lisa

Twiced Baked Potatoes March 12, 2012

I always order twice baked potatoes at nice restaurants, but have never made them myself.  The caption on the pin attracted me to this recipe.  The caption reads “only 88 calories..”!  I recalculated the calories after I made the recipe, and I came up with 225 calories.  Maybe it was the cheese I used?  The recipe took 1 hour 45 minutes total; however, only 25 minutes of that time is hands on!  These turned out great.  I will be making them again.  Next time I might make a few extra potatoes, because I didn’t have enough filling to stuff the potatoes as much as I’d like to.  I should also mention that the picture on the pin shows a whole potato stuffed, but the recipe tells you to cut them in half, which is what I did!  I ate mine like a potato skin!

 

Time:  10 minute potato prep / 1 hour baking / 15 minute filling prep / 20 minutes more baking = total of 1 hour 45 minutes!

Substitutions:  My husband is not a fan of mustard, so I eliminated the mustard.  Also, I forgot to sprinkle the paprika.  After 17 minutes of baking, the cheese wasn’t crispy on top, so I turned on the broiler for the last 3 minutes and that did the trick!

Pinterest Pin:  http://pinterest.com/pin/40391727878045817/

Recipe:  http://www.wwrecipes.net/twice-baked-potatoes.html